Appeal No. 1998-0253
Application No. 08/261,252
examiner’s reliance on Hamada to cure these deficiencies is
not well founded.
Hamada discloses an assembly system designed to
efficiently produce relatively small quantities of a variety
of different articles. The system includes a moving unit 12
adapted to move around a closed loop track 13, a robot 11 and
assembling jigs 14, 14a, 14b mounted on the moving unit, a
conveyor 19 for moving trays 20 bearing article
components/parts 18a, 18b, 18c, etc. alongside and in
synchronism with the moving unit, and stationary peripheral
units 21 through 25 located along the closed loop track for
performing operations on the parts which the robot cannot
perform. In use, the robot moves parts between a tray, the
assembling jigs and the peripheral units to assemble and
produce an article as the moving unit moves around the closed
loop track.
Given the lack of any particular relevance of the Hamada
assembly system to a method of assembling parts to an
automotive vehicle, we are satisfied that the only suggestion
for modifying the admitted prior art automotive vehicle
assembly line method in view of Hamada to arrive at the
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